Rolling-mill



(We Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1., G. B. BEACH.

ROLLING MILL. No. 370,524. Patented Sept. 27,, 1887.

Z e e W um Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. B. BEACH.

ROLLING MILL.

No. 370,524. Patented Sept. 2'7, 1887.

Fi e Z.

. NITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CLIFTON B. BEACH, OF CLEVELAND, oHIo ROLLING-MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,524, datedSeptember 2'], 188"].

Application filed August 19, 1885. Renewed April 7, 1887. Serial No.934,020. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFTON B. BEACH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, county of Ouyahoga, and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rolling-Mills; and I dohereby declare the following to be a description of the same and of themanner of constructing and using the invention in such full, clear,concise, and exact terms as to enable any personskilled in the art towhich it appertains to construct and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, theprinciple of the invention being herein explained and the best mode'inwhich I have contemplated applying that principle so as to distinguishit from other inventions.

The economical operation of a manufacturing plant with respect to acontinuous operation involving successive steps depends very largelyupon the arrangements and location of its different parts ordepartments. This is especially true where the material being handled isheavy or bulky. In a rollingmill plant, where hundreds of tons offinished .material may be daily produced, it not unfrequently occursthat the cost of handling, from first to last, quite equals the cost ofthe labor involved in actual manipulation and production.

While it is well known to all manufacturers that in the production of awire rod or other small section from a large ingot a large percentage ofthe cost of production would be saved if the ingot could with one heatbe reduced to a No. 6 rod, still there is not in this country to-day,if, indeed, there is in the world, a plant that is arranged and operatedto accomplish this desired result, or, in fact, to approximate to it.The different departmentsas, for instance, the steel mill, the largehammers or blooming-trains, down to the last pass of the finishing-are,as a rule, located, arranged, and speeded as though there were nointerdependence or relation between them. In the ordinary bloomingtrains as now operated from twenty to twenty-four passes are given to afourteen-inch square ingot to reduce it toa four-.inch square, and allat the same speed. It is very apparent that in this operation alonethere is such a waste of time and heat as would, if properly employed,reduce the same-sized ingot to a No. 6 or smaller rod.

The purpose of my present invention is to demonstrate the practicabilityof so arranging and locating the different parts of a mill that with theaid of automatic conductors and repeaters, and the employment ofgradually ac large-sized ingot to a small section shall be accomplishedby a continuously successive and substantially uninterrupted operation.Furthermore, the plan and arrangements are intended to make itconvenient to meet and provide for almost any possible emergency whichmay arise, whereby the normal operations of the system are interrupted,so that if an obstacle or any difficulty presents itself in the way ofthe production of the article or thing especially designed to beproduced the operations of the parts of the system not thereby affectedmay, without material disadvantage, be continued until the diflicultiesare removed and the normal condition and operation of the whole plantare established. To this end I shall herein particularly describe thearrangement and operation of a plant designed for the production of wirerods and other small sections.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the plant. Fig. 2 is adetail view in front elevation, illustrating the method of operatingmill E, where five stands are employed, instead of six stands, as shownin the plan view. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the mill shown in thepreceding view.- Fig. 4 represents in detail in transverse section millsA B O D E, and also represents, in elevation, the shears Z and m.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the heat-retaining boxas in use.

I will now call attention to the prominent details of the plan view.

Six furnaces, a b c d e f, are employedin-the complete system; but ifthe mill Ashould not be used the two furnaces a and b should be movedinto close proximity to mill B. Furnaces a and b are for the initialheating of a large ingot--say fourteen inches square by four feet long,(more or less.) Furnace c is to be used for reheating the sections. ofblooms made by mill D, (and sheared, as hereinafter fihowm) whenastoppage occurs at mill E.

60 celerated speeds, the operation of reducing a Furnaces d ef are usedfor the purpose of reheating such of the billet-coils as mills F and Gand H cannot take, owing either to stoppage in these mills or to thefact that too much metal is presented from below for the capacity ofthese mills.

Mill A is an ordinary reversing bloomingtrain. The number of passeswhich the ingot is to receive in this mill is odd-that is to say, I givethe bloom eleven, thirteen, or fifteen passes, as the case may be, thelast pass delivering the bloom in the direction of the next succeedingmill and presenting the forward end thereof in close proximity to thereceiving-pass of the next train. This principle of construction isillustrated in application Serial No. 144,508, filed by me October 22,1884.

Mill A is coupled directly to the reversingengine g, which, running at acertain speed and actuating rolls of a certain diameter, will deliver acertain number of feet of bloom in a given time. The operation of thismill having been accomplished, the bloom by the last odd pass isdelivered in the direction of the mill B, and its forward end ispresented to the receiving-pass of said mill.

- Mill B is coupled directly to engine 7z,while mills G and D arerespectively driven by belting from said engine shaft, according to asystem of belting illustrated in application Serial No. 148,572, filedby me November 22, 1884. It is evident that by this system of thetransmission of power an accelerated speed can be given to each of themills G and D. Mill B may, if desired, be also a reversing-mill; but

a if in mill Athe large ingot has been reduced to about the size incross-section of an ordinary railingot I consider the best practice tobe to here employa three-high train, and from this on to and includingmill E, as illustrated in Fig. 4. Thebloom from mill A,having beendelivered and presented to the receiving-pass of mill B, is handled inthe usual manner of a rail-ingot or a bloom.

Mill B, I design to run at a higher speed than mill A. The bloom by thistime will have been materially reduced in cross-section and elongated,and as mill B is a three-high it may be run at a materially-increasedspeed. In this mill the bloom should be givcn'three, five, or sevenpasses, as the case may be, the last pass delivering the bloom in thedirection of and in close proximity to the receiving-pass of mill 0.

In mill 0 the number of passes to be given to the bloom will depend bothupon the size of the bloom presented and the article to be produced. Bythe time the bloom reaches mill 0 it will have been sumciently reducedto admit of the practice which is now universally employed in workingsmaller-sized blooms and billets, and which, in my opinion, should beemployed in large-sized blooms-to wit, passing from square to oval, orfrom oval to square, instead of from square to square. Mill 0 by itslast odd pass will deliver the bloom in the direction of mill D, andpresent the forward end thereof in close proximity to itsreceiving-pass. This millD by my system of powertransmission may be runat any desired speed. For the present purposes, however, suffice it tosay, that it is speeded higher than mill 0, and that the size of theroll is somewhat reduced. In mill D, if desired, the process ofautomatic repeating or doubling may be employed on the last pass. Thiswill depend, however, very largely upon the size of the billet desiredto be produced by the finishing pass or passes of mill E. When the bloomis being delivered from the finishing-pass of mill D, it is conducted byproperly-arranged conductors through shears, whereby it is severed ordivided into desired lengths. I have shown two shears, Z and m,respectively adapted to out long and shorter lengths, as may be desired.These shears may be automatic in their operation-that is say, when acertain length of bloom has been fed through them, the forward end ofthe bloom may engage a mechanism which will operate the shears and severthe continuous line of bloom being delivered by the delivering-pass ofmill D.

If the plant is working upon an ordinarysized three-rail ingot, it willbe found impracticable to reduce at the initial heat to a commerciallrod all of the sections coming up as they are successively delivered bymills D and E; but if the ordinary one-rail ingot-to wit, an ingot seveninches square and weighing about seven hundred pounds-is being reduced,it will be found to be entirely practicable to con tinue the operationthrough mills F and G, if not through H, to the end-to wit, a rod orother small section.

It will be observed that in the plan view of mill E, I have shown sixstands of rolls and the engine a coupled-direct. \Vhether the engine becoupled direct or geared or belted depends upon the speed required atmill E, and whether it shall be coupled or not depends upon the kind ofengine employed.

It is apparent that the principle of my system requires at mill E a muchgreater speed than at mill D, and this may be obtained as desired. By mydisposition of the engine it, however, I design to obtain power both forthe shears Z and m and for the reels 1) c d-.

Mill G is of recentinvention, as illustrated in application Serial No.144,508,filed oy mQOctober 2, 1884. Mills F and H are of constructionillustrated in the application hereinbefore referred to, Serial No.148,57 2, filed by me November 22, 1884, The method of transmittingpower therein shown, by means of belts and pulleys, makes the continuousarrangement, as

shown at mills F and H, entirely practicable, and provides for asuccessi ely-accelerated speed throughout the whole train of each mill.

It will be observed that the three engines t, v, and 10, whichrespectively actuate mills F, G, and H, are not directly coupledthereto. l have herein represented mills F and H as differing in slightdetails from each other, but as substantially the same in principle. Ineach yrepresents an overhead or underground shafting, which by thebelt-and-pulley systemtransmits driving power from the shafts of thelast stand of rolls in the continuous train to the two stands of rollsa, coupled together in line with but independently fromsaid last stand;but in the several stands in each continuous train I employ repeaters,which provide for either an overfeed or an underfeed of the metal, asthe case may be, said repeaters being of recent invention byW. W.McGallip, as illustrated in application Serial No. 145,543, filed by himOctober 15, 1884.

By my system of the transmission of power from one central point asuccessively-accelerated speed may be given to each standof rolls. Inthe mill G it will be seen that,while the same system of thetransmission of power is employed as inmills F and H, there are certainmodifications as respects the arrangement and placing of the variousstands. I In this mill the first three stands of rolls are placed in theusual position. The billet is entered at the first stand, and isthereafter automatically repeated up to and, if desired, includingthe'finishing-pass of the train. Between the several stands in each ofthe three lines the usual well-known repeater is employed; but betweenthe several lines I employ the McCallip combined underfeed and overfeedrepeater, hereinbefore referred to. In this mill it will be readily seenthat by e'mploying but three stands in each line the metal is throughoutthe entire operation continued in its forward course.

Particular-attention is now called to the practice hereinafter involved.In detailing this practice I have reference to the results to beobtained. WVhether the product from below may in a substantial degree becared for by mills F, G, and H depends entirely upon circumstances. .Istate that, starting from an ordinary sized ingot at mill B, the whole,or the substantial part thereof, may be successfully reduced to a wirerod at one heat and by one continuous operation. Starting from anordinary three-railingot, however, at mill A, it is very apparent thatmills F,G, and H will not be able to care for the weight of metal comingup. As it is my purpose, however, in this description to meet anyemergency which may arise and to point out the peculiar advantagepertaining to the practice, whether the initial ingot be large or small,I shall describe the practice I employ in each case.

When starting with a large-sized or threerail ingot, my practice is, ifthe billet presented by mill E is in proper condition, to repeat thesame by the ordinary method, in sections of suitable length, to mills Fand G, and,if possible,to mill H. These sections will be the first threecut off by the shears Zor m. The remaining portion of the oncoming bloomwill be subdivided by said shears into desired lengths, and should assoon as possible follow the first three sections through theirrespective passes in mill E. These last sections should in all cases becoiled if it is desired to reduce them by subsequent operations to rods,bars, hoops, or other like small sections; hence in working even ingotsso large in the beginning that they will overwhelm the capacity of thefinishing mills I have shown the initial heat of the whole mass will notbe lost. or three forward sections of this mass may with the same heatbeneduced to the desired, or at least to the commercial, product,whilethe balance of the massto wit, the billet delivered by thefinishing-pass of mill E, after the delivery of the first two or threesectionswill be cared for, as herein described. It the operation iscommenced at mill B with an ordinarysized rail-ingot, it-will be found,the conditions all being favorable, that the first three sectionspresented to mill E by the delivery of mill D and the intermediateshearing and handling can by my system of mills F, G, and H be reducedto a rod at the initial heat. If, however, the billet, as it isdelivered from the finishing-passes of mill E is not, because ofstoppage or difiiculty that may have occurred below, of proper heat tobe passed to either of the mills F, G, or H, it should be treated in Thetwo the same manner as the excess of product coming up from the large orthree-rail ingotthat is to say, (and this practice pertains to bothcases,) whenever a billet is being delivered by any of thedelivering-passes of mill'E, which is not in proper condition to bepassed to either of the mills F, G, or H, or which, by reason of thesemills being engaged, cannot be taken by them, the same is to be carriedto reels b c d and coiled.

Conveniently placed with respect to the delivering-passes of mill E arethe three powerful reels b c d. These reels are to be'cmployed in thesame manner as ordinary rod-reels as the billet is being delivered fromthe passes of mill E. If, however, the billet by mill E is beingpresented in proper condition for further reduction, I design that itshall be repeated from its appropriate finishing-pass of said mill toentering-pass of mill Ft The second section, if in like condition, is tobe repeated from its appropriate finishing-pass to the entering-pass ofmill G, and, in like manner, the third section, if in proper condition,is to befrepeated or conducted automatically, or otherwise, from itsappropriate finishing-passto the entering-pass of mill H.

In the production otan inch-square billet by the delivering passorpasses of mill E from a seven-inchrsquare ingot at mill B it willgenerally be found that the condition of the first and second sectionswill admit of their being repeated, as proposed, into mills F and G.Section 3, however, may not be in such condition, and this, ashereinbefore provided, should be carried to the reel and coiled.

In Fig. 1-1 have represented mill E as having six stands, provided withthe usual wellknown repeater, the two stands, respectively at theextreme right and left of the train,beiug connected by-similarrepeaters, o, severally to mills F and G. In Figs. 2 and 3 I haverepresented mill E as having five stands, and as the same is mypreferred construction I recommend the following practice.

It will be seen by following the dotted line a: in Fig. 2 that I enterthe first section out oh and presented in pass of stand'g'. From this,as will be seen in Fig. 3, I rep eat to pass 8 or 5, stand f, againrepeat from this to pass 3 or 2, stand 6, as shown in Fig. 2, and therefinish. Dotted line x shows the course of the second section. Stuck inat pass 11, stand 9, Fig. 2, itis repeated to pass 13 or 16, stand h,Fig. 3, repeated to pass 18 or 19. stand Z, Fig, 3, and finished. Dottedline m shows the course of the third section. Stuck in at pass 7 or 6 ofstand f, Fig. 2, it is repeated to pass 9 or 12, stand 9, Fig. 3, fromthence repeated to pass 14 or 15, stand h, Fig. 2, and finished. By thismethod and practice it will be seen that I accomplish with five standsof "rolls what would in common practice require nine stands. Even thefour stands 6, g, h, and f will accomplish the work; but the employmentof five stands, as shown, I consider the best practice. 'If the oncomingbloom shall by shears Z or m be subdivided into morethan three sections,it will doubtless be found most convenient and practicable for section4: to follow section 3, as under favorable circumstances sections 1 and2 will go direct to the rod-mills, while section 3 may be coiled. I alsorecommend that in the mill E the rolls used should not be over twelveinches in diameter and of greater length than are usually employed insuch a mill.

If in the course of the operation of this system any of the mills, onthe complete working of which the desired results of the system depend,should, by reason of breakage or otherwise, be stopped, provision hasbeen made for the operation of such mills as are not thereby especiallyati'ectedas, for instance, if the mills have been for several days as awhole working successfully, the blooming-mills and the billet-mill Ewill undoubtedly have pro-' duced more or a greater product than can becared for by mills F, G, and H. The excess of product is supposed tohave been coiled and held in readiness for reheating. If anything shalloccur to stop any of the mills below mill E, mills F, G, and H may drawupon this surplus production. This will provide for a subsequentstoppage of mill E. If the stoppage occurs by reason of trouble withmill E, the mills below may continue their operation and the productproduced by mill 1) may be sheared into lengths suitable to be cared forby the mills above, or into any other desired sections. Such product maybe stocked, in order to provide against any stoppage which maythereafter occur at the mills below. Provision has been made by furnacec for the reheating of the long blooms which maybe produced by mill Dand sheared, as described, into desirable lengths by shears Z and m.

In the production by my system of a rod from an ingot with its initialheat it is evident that in severing or subdividing by shearsl and m theoncoming bloom. into suitable lengths good judgment must be used. Ifautomatic mechanism is employed, it must be so adapted that such lengthsonly as can be properly cared for by the finishing-mills above shall becut ofi.

' With respect to such sections or portions of 5 the billet produced bywill E, when charged,

properly reheated, and placed in the box p,

I recommend that the speed of the rod-mill upon the insertion of the endof the billet should be moderate, that when the billet shall haveentered all of the passes of the rod-mill the speed of the mill beaccelerated to the highest possible safe limit, and that as the billetis about being finished the speed of the mill should be reduced toreceive the next billet. This practice in working ordinarysized billetswould be impracticable; but with billets having from eight to ten timesthe amount of metal will be productive of very desirable results.

The box referred to, which is more fully shown in Fig. 5, is designatedas a heat-retaining box. It is to receive a coil of metal taken from oneof the billet-coil furnaces, and to retain the heat thereof from loss byradiation while the metal is being fed into its rodmill. I sink this boxin the floor of the mill, so that when the cover 1" is closed the wholeshall be about flush with the floor. Upon the side facing theentering-pass of the rod-mill is a funnel-shaped aperture, 8', throughwhich the billet is presented to the rolls. The box is provided with aspindle, t. If this box is in constant use, it will be found that itwill be sutiiciently heated by radiation from the coils. If

not in constant use, however, I recommend that it be heated,asdesired,by any of the wellknown processes.

I design to make furnace c of such length that it shall be capable ofreceiving the entire length of an old steel rail, in order that if it isdesired to reduce such a product to the hi!- let form by any of themodern processes the same may be commenced at mill D, at whichmill,proper provision having been made to effect this result, it may bereduced to a rectangular form, and as delivered in the direction of millE may be subdivided by shears l and m, '11 are located in proximity tothis furnace for use in cropping oft the jagged ends of such rails.Reels 'w' are provided near the finishing points of each of the threerod-mills, upon which the product of the latter are coiled.-

The foregoing is intended to set forth the principle of my invention andthe bestmethod at present known to me for carrying out the same.Attention has not herein been given to details, nor to many matterswhich pertain to mechanical adaptation and practical working. Suchconsiderations as the size of pulleys, length of belts, diameter ofrolls, proportion of parts, and analogous points are well understood inthe art of mill-rolling,and arenot at- IIq as hereinbefore provided.Old-rail shears tempted to be set forth herein or shown in the drawings.

Certain features of invention shown in this application do notconstitute a part of the latter, inasmuch as said features of inventionform-the subject matter of certain other applications of mine for UnitedStates Patents now pending, as witnessed,respectively,in applicationSerial No. 233,925, filed April 6, 1887, application Serial No. 233,926,filed April 6, 1887, application Serial No. 233,581, filed April 6,1887, and hence all claims upon said features of invention are rested insaid other applications.

Other forms of embodying and using the principle of my invention may beemployed in substitution for the specific form herein shown. It willtherefore be understood that omissions, substitutions, and changes maybe made as regards the forms and parts herein set forth, provided theprinciples of construction embraced in the following claim are retainedand employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention-A rolling-mill having in combination the quent manipulation; third, twoor more rodtrains conveniently located for the alternate feeding intoone or the other of the successive sections so produced; fourth, acoiling mechanism conveniently located for the reeling of the additionalor extra billet-sections; fifth, a heat-retaining device in whichtemporarily to store the coiled sections and suitably arranged for thefeeding of such sections therefrom into one or other of the rod-trainswhen the latter are not otherwise employed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing to be my invention I havehereunto set my hand this 14th day of August, A. D. 1885.

- CLIFTON B. BEACH. Witnesses: I

T. B. HALL, JNo. G. HALL.

